Most kids look forward to the holidays in December and the first few snowfalls. With the cold, dark, and snowy days that follow, it’s easy for our kids to slip into inactivity and experience “cabin fever”.

Encouraging your kids to get involved in winter sports and activities at a young age can help keep them active and interested for years to come. Your soccer star daughter can become a hockey pro in the off-season. Your gymnastics camp obsessed first grader can try figure skating. Exposing your kids to new activities that they don’t usually learn in gym class or on the school yard helps to develop their hobbies and keeps activity levels up year round.

Include the whole family

If the thought of enrolling your kids in yet another activity is too much to handle, family activities and play dates can be arranged outdoors. Tobogganing, snowball fights and building snowmen all promote outdoor activity and exercise, and aren’t as intimidating or expensive as organized sports.

More than just exercising

Many winter activities such as skating and cross-country skiing boost balance, flexibility, and muscle development.

Picking up new activities and skills in the winter helps to develop patience, persistence and teaches children how to set goals and to achieve them step-by-step. If you can remember conquering the biggest hill as a kid you know the benefits of goal-setting. Taking risks helps to increase our kids’ resilience, helps them make judgments and gives them opportunities to challenge themselves. The trial and error and confidence-building that many winter activities require will help them when they enter the classroom, and with family and friend relationships too!

Happy and healthy

Many of us experience a slump when the colder weather, shorter days, holiday stress and flu season hit. It’s easy for families to feel overwhelmed in the winter months and to find themselves waiting for spring to arrive. Getting outside can help prevent these feelings.

It’s proven that engaging in outdoor physical activity is associated with mood enhancement, positive engagement, increased energy, decreased tension and aggression, as well as feeling more satisfied than indoor activity. Looks like just another reason to face the elements and jump on the toboggan with the kids this winter!

What activities do you and your kids participate in in the winter months? Any tips for parents who can’t find the time to enjoy the winter weather? Leave a comment below.